Flexible Muscle-Based Locomotion for Bipedal Creatures

ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proc. SIGGRAPH Asia 2013)

Thomas Geijtenbeek, Michiel van de Panne, A. Frank van der Stappen

 

Abstract

We present a muscle-based control method for simulated bipeds in which both the muscle routing and control parameters are optimized. This yields a generic locomotion control method that supports a variety of bipedal creatures. All actuation forces are the result of 3D simulated muscles, and a model of neural delay is included for all feedback paths. As a result, our controllers generate torque patterns that incorporate biomechanical constraints. The synthesized controllers find different gaits based on target speed, can cope with uneven terrain and external perturbations, and can steer to target directions.

Paper
 The most up-to-date project web page can be found at Thomas' project page at Utrecht University

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Bibtex
 
@article{2013-TOG-MuscleBasedBipeds,
  title={Flexible Muscle-Based Locomotion for Bipedal Creatures},
  author={Thomas Geijtenbeek and Michiel van de Panne and A. Frank van der Stappen},
  journal={ACM Transactions on Graphics},
  year={2013},
  volume = {32},
  number = {6},
  publisher={ACM SIGGRAPH}
}
Funding
    GALA, funded by the European Union in FP7
   NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada)
   GRAND NCE: Graphics, Animation, and New Media
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